Wednesday, 5 July 2017

Teddy's 12 week update

Teddy has now been here just over 12 weeks so its time for his update. He arrived with his left foot much weaker than his right and he had been diagnosed on MRI with bilateral navicular bursitis and DDFT damage together with further collateral ligament damage to his left foot.

When he arrived he was landing toe first and he also had a split in his central sulcus on this foot which was contributing to his poor landing.

You can see that his new growth is just over halfway down his hoof capsule and that it is much stronger than the old growth; his weak hoof wall has also improved.

The central sulcus split is still evident but it is no longer sore and he has been happy to land heel first for some time now. I use Veterinus derma-gel to treat these sorts of splits, something I discovered earlier this year, and it does a marvellous job.

From this angle the depth of the split is clearer to see as it went right up into the hairline originally; it has now almost closed up.

This was his better foot to start with but it is now considerably less under-run and again the hoof wall is stronger and denser.

The shorter toe and stronger palmar hoof can also be seen from this angle although the changes are not as dramatic as in his left foot.

But from the caudal view the change in frog strength is quite clear and you can also see a huge difference in the digital cushion. Unfortunately I can't include video footage as I am short of pairs of hands to lead horses for me but I will add it as soon as I can.

Rockley Farm's Blog

A diary of whats happening at Rockley, whether its news on rehab horses or on our own horses hunting and competing. All the horses are barefoot, and the blog includes updates on hoof rehabilitation and information about barefoot performance.

You can find out more about research, rehabilitation and our horses on the pages above or at our website: www.rockleyfarm.co.uk.